Sweet dreams, MasterCard: People in Japan are putting their wallets to bed in tiny futons

We all have our funny little habits and daily rituals. Some of us don’t feel settled at night unless we’ve put all the dishes away or spoken to our loved ones on the phone. Others can’t head to bed unless they’ve first checked that the front door is locked or whipped the shower curtain open to ensure there isn’t a monster, murderer, or acid-spitting xenomorph in there waiting climb out of the tub after they’ve fallen asleep.

But did you know that some people in Japan are now getting into the habit of putting their wallets to bed before themselves?

According to Japanese news site Naver Matome, a surprising number of women in Japan have taken to putting their purses to bed after they come home at night, often in specially made futons complete with mini pillows and cute bed sheets.

The curious trend reportedly started after actor, essayist and TV personality Kazuyo Matsui talked of the importance of letting one’s purse “rest” at the end of the day, even going so far as to anthropomorphise said cash-and-card-carrying pouches by referring to them with the affectionate suffix “chan“.

“We [humans] sleep to recharge ourselves, don’t we?” remarked Matsui during a typically gaudy Japanese TV broadcast, “Well I believe that if we don’t let our purses and money sleep and recharge, they won’t have any power.”

You’d be forgiven for thinking that sounds a little bit nuts, since it makes about as much logical sense as hugging your car before each journey in order to get better mileage, but there are seemingly plenty of people out there who have–whether in the hope of getting rich or doing it because putting random objects to bed is cute–taken the advice to heart, creating little beds for their purses to “rest” in.

A couple of bloggers have even gone so far as to say that, while they haven’t exactly become super-rich since adopting this unusual practice, they have definitely felt that they’re on the way to “making connections” that will make them so.

So, starting from today, I’m going to be tucking in some of my own belongings in the hope that, by letting them rest, good karma will flow my way. Since I’m already insanely rich, I’ve decided to try the futon method out with a few other personal items:

My trusty watch,

my PlayStation controller,

And even my monitor at work, which is too big for a handkerchief blanket so will have to make to with a pair of underpants draped over it at night.

With any luck, by this time next week I’ll have more time to spare, a gamerscore to brag about, and have caused zero fires as a result of putting underpants on top of electrical equipment like an idiot. Sleep well, inanimate objects!